Process Safety Management follows the syllabus for the

NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Process Safety Management

and provides the knowledge you need to help you
gain the qualification.
The book also contains activities and case studies to illustrate the areas covered by the syllabus.
It can be used as part of your studies during a taught course or as a study aid for e-learning,
distance learning and revision sessions.

The information is also valuable as a reference source for those putting process safety principles into practice
at work, for example when contributing towards identifying process related hazards and risks within the process environment.

NEBOSH HSE - Process Safety Management

NEBOSH Dominus Way
Meridian Business Park
Leicester LE19 1QW
+44 (0)116 263 4700
info@nebosh.org.uk
www.nebosh.org.uk

PUBLISHED BY NEBOSH 2017 ©

Registered in England and Wales
Company number 2698100
Registered charity number 1010444
PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT
PSMBKxxxx

BAR CODE
A course book for the NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Process Safety Management
 Contents

INTRODUCTION
Foreword 1

Element 1 Process safety leadership 3

1.1 Process safety management meaning 4
1.2 Process safety leadership 5
1.3 Organisational learning 10
1.4 Management of change 14
1.5 Worker engagement 16
1.6 Competence 18

ELEMENT 1
Element 2 Management of process risk 23
2.1 Establishing a process safety management system 24
2.2 Risk management techniques used within the process industries 33
2.3 Asset management and maintenance strategies 43
2.4 Role, purpose and features of a permit-to-work system 47
2.5 Safe shift handover 50
2.6 Contractor management 51

Element 3 Process safety hazard control 57

ELEMENT 2
3.1 Operating Procedures 58
3.2 Safe start-up and shut-down 63
3.3 Safety critical performance standards 69
3.4 Utilities 72
3.5 Electricity/static electricity 78
3.6 Dangerous substances 84
3.7 Reaction hazards 87
3.8 Bulk storage operations 92

ELEMENT 3
Element 4 Fire and explosion protection 105
4.1 Fire hazards 106
4.2 Fire and explosion control 111
4.3 Dust explosions 116
4.4 Emergency preparedness 119
ELEMENT 4

Contents

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 Foreword
The NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Process Safety Management
is the perfect qualification for those who need to
understand the principles of process safety management
as part of their job. By studying for this qualification you
will be able to contribute to the effective management of
process safety and be able to profile the major risks present
in a typical process installation.
The qualification is particularly relevant to the following
people working within a process environment:
• Team leaders, supervisors and managers
• Process operators
• Newly qualified health and safety advisors
The qualification is not designed for chemical and process
safety engineers experienced in the specification, design
and maintenance of the integrity of process plant.
This course book has been structured to match the
NEBOSH syllabus. It has been written by process safety
experts, who take you step-by-step through the content
of the qualification. The information is divided into distinct
sections, each of which starts by listing the learning
outcomes for that particular section. It isn’t full of jargon
or confusing terms and offers useful examples, mock exam
questions and helpful tips throughout to aid your learning.
451931_PSM_Element_1.indd 1
ELEMENT 1
ELEMENT 2
Using this book as part of your course preparation and study
could improve your chance of success. How you use this book
is entirely up to you however, we would definitely recommend
that you use it as a revision aid as part of your formal course
leading to the qualification. You may feel you want to read it
from cover to cover, or you may simply want to read certain
chapters where you would like to concentrate your studies.
You will also find it useful as a source of reference when you
ELEMENT 3
are back in your workplace.
The NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Process Safety Management is
intended to be suitable for students working anywhere in the
world. The content is based on recognised international best
practice. Knowledge of specific legislation, either in the UK or
in any other country, is not a requirement of the qualification.
Further information, including the Guide for the qualification
can be found on the NEBOSH website at www.nebosh.org.uk.
The NEBOSH HSE Certificate in Process Safety Management
also complements other NEBOSH qualifications such as the
NEBOSH National or International General Certificate in
ELEMENT 4
Occupational Health and Safety.
We hope you find this book useful and thank you for taking
the time to learn more about process safety management.
Element 1 Process safety leadership „„ 1
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 A guide to the symbols used
in this course book
ELEMENT 1

THOUGHT PROVOKER
These ask you to think about what you
have been learning, to relate it to your own
experience.

ACTIVITY
Carry out an activity to reinforce what you
have just read.
ELEMENT 2

EXAMPLE
Real or imagined scenarios that give context
to points made in the text.
ELEMENT 3

KEY TERMS
Definitions of key process safety
terminology.
ELEMENT 4

Element 1 Process safety leadership

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 1

Process safety leadership

ELEMENT 1
ELEMENT 2
HSE inspectors inspect an offshore oil platform.
©Crown Copyright, Health and Safety Executive

This element will explore what process
safety is and will look at the importance
of leadership in the process industries. It
will also introduce organisational learning,
management of change, and how worker
engagement can be managed.
ELEMENT 3
Learning outcomes
On completion of this element, you should be able to:
1.1 Outline the meaning of process safety and how it
differs from personal safety.
1.2 Explain the role of leadership in process safety
management.
1.3 Explain the purpose of organisational learning, the
sharing of lessons learnt and sources of information.
1.4 Explain how ‘change’ should be managed to
effectively reduce risks to people and plant.
1.5 Outline the benefits, limitations and types of worker
participation and engagement.
ELEMENT 4

1.6 Outline what is meant by competence and its

importance to process safety.

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 1.1

Process safety management meaning

1. The distinction between process 2. A definition of process safety

safety vs personal safety
You will find various definitions of process safety but the
ELEMENT 1

When we think about ‘safety’, we naturally think about the
personal safety of individuals who could be affected, and the
various, often more traditional actions that can be taken to
reduce the risk of injury and ill health. Many types of personal
accidents are quite common, simple and therefore reasonably
foreseeable; their control measures are often well established
and straightforward to implement. These include machine
guarding, fire precautions, equipment checks, managing
slips and trips and the use of personal protective equipment
(PPE). We probably think about low personal accident rates or
number of days without an accident as a measure of success.
one that we will use here is: “a blend of engineering and
management skills focused on preventing catastrophic
accidents and near misses, particularly structural collapse,
explosions, fires and toxic releases associated with loss of
containment of energy or dangerous substances such as
chemicals and petroleum products.” (Energy Institute, adapted
from the Center for Chemical Process Safety of the American
Institute of Chemical Engineers1).
As you can see, it has all the elements of what we have
discussed earlier.

By comparison, process safety (safety in high-hazard process

ELEMENT 2

industries) is rather more complicated. So-called high-hazard

process industries include chemical and oil and gas sectors.
While they obviously suffer personal accidents like all other
workplaces, there is also the potential for a major incident.
This is because they deal with dangerous chemicals in large
amounts and operate processes that, if not well monitored
and controlled, can easily go spectacularly wrong, resulting
in major fires and toxic releases, for example. Major incidents
like these are very infrequent events and can be difficult to
predict (before they happen) because of the multiple causes
and complexity of what leads to them. Neglecting seemingly
small things (like an intermittently faulty alarm or general
ELEMENT 3

maintenance) can end up causing a major accident. In process

safety, the emphasis is on the prevention of major disasters
that have been historically an issue for the industry. Process
safety needs both complex technical controls (on the plant
itself) as well as a robust safety management system. It
requires a good deal of specialist technical engineering and
management skill to get right. Leadership is important to
give suitable high priority to process safety even though the
standards and controls mean that incidents should be rare and
may be outside the experience of operators.

Personal safety and process safety do link together (clearly,

there is a risk of slips, trips and falls occurring in any
ELEMENT 4

workplace); however, in process safety, the emphasis is on

the prevention of the high-risk, large scale catastrophic
events that, though thankfully rare, could have devastating
consequences.
St. Fergus gas terminal, Scotland.
©Crown Copyright, Health and Safety Executive

Element 1 Process safety leadership

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 1.2
Process safety leadership
There have been a number of incidents in the process industry
that have called into question the way that safety is managed;
specifically, in relation to inadequate leadership and poor
organisational culture.
EXAMPLE
Focus has historically been on the
engineering solutions and design
improvements that could be made; however, the
hydrocarbon explosions at Texas City and Buncefield
in 2005, as well as the more recent Macondo blowout
(explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling
unit) highlighted the need to focus on not only the
physical controls but also the leadership actions that will
prevent such events. As a result, in the UK the Process
Safety Leadership Group (PSLG) was established in 2007
to work with the regulators in order to form guidelines
on the management and leadership actions that are
needed.
In the PSLG final report2 into the Buncefield disaster, the
importance of leadership was acknowledged. Appendix
7 of that document contains their “Principles of Process
Safety Leadership2”, which we will broadly cover in
this section.
After effects of the fire at Buncefield oil storage facility.
©Crown Copyright, Health and Safety Executive
451931_PSM_Element_1.indd 5
ACTIVITY
We will be discussing Buncefield at several
ELEMENT 1
points through the element, so it would be
useful for you to be aware of the incident. The report
into the HSE’s prosecution of companies involved in the
Buncefield explosion, together with photographs and
video evidence, can be viewed on the HSE’s website (at
www.hse.gov.uk/news/buncefield at the time of writing.)
Review some of the evidence and familiarise yourself
with the case.
1. Hazard and risk awareness of
leadership teams
ELEMENT 2
Leaders need to be competent and actively engaged. Indeed,
the earlier referenced PSLG report states that “at least one
board member should be fully conversant in process safety
management in order to advise the board of the status of
process safety risk management within the organisation and of
the process safety implications of board decisions”.
History has shown that if process industry leaders do not
fundamentally understand the hazards and risks inherent in
their business, unless they are extremely lucky, ignorance may
ultimately lead to disaster. Lack of understanding may arise
ELEMENT 3
from things such as lack of technical knowledge or simply
lack of data on which to base a decision (lack of reporting).
Leadership teams are key decision-makers. If, through
ignorance, they do not fully appreciate the consequences of
their decisions (such as delaying plant maintenance on an
already elderly plant or cutting critical staff), they will make
poor decisions that may make a major accident inevitable
(just a matter of time). To appreciate this, leaders need to be
involved, competent and actively engaged - it does not happen
by chance. They need to be fully aware of the hazard and
risk potential of their processing activities and the potential
consequences that decisions to do (or not do) things may
lead to. Though a major incident may never have happened
ELEMENT 4
to the organisation in question, the major accident potential
of its processes needs to be treated seriously alongside other
business risks, since it is far more likely to have an impact on
reputation and the survival of the business as a whole.
Element 1 Process safety leadership „„ 5
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 1.2

Process safety leadership

Clearly, leadership teams must therefore be aware of the

hazards and potential impacts of their plant and sites (at every THOUGHT PROVOKER
stage of their life cycle, from design to decommissioning).
Consider the organisation or environment
ELEMENT 1

These impacts could not only result in life-threatening safety

that you work in - how confident are you
events but also reputational damage and business losses.
that leaders and managers are fully aware of the hazard
potentials of the process?
EXAMPLE
In the 1988 Piper Alpha oil rig disaster, 167
lives were lost, insured losses reached £1.7 2. Board level visibility and promotion
billion and impacted 10% of North Sea oil and gas of process safety leadership
production. Nearly 30 years on, the name “Piper Alpha”
symbolises a monumental failure of process safety The Principles of Process Safety Leadership also place emphasis
and the reputation of the Occidental organisation was on board level visibility to promote process safety.
tarnished forever.
Directors and senior managers play a key role in promotion
ELEMENT 2

of process safety - they provide leadership, set direction

ACTIVITY
Piper Alpha will be discussed several times
in the course, so it would be useful to
have an understanding of the disaster. Use the HSE
website, search engines and public access video sites to
understand (in no great detail) what happened and why
the incident had such a profound impact on the industry
and process safety as a whole.
Further, they of course need to understand the criticality of
ELEMENT 3
and assign priorities, establish the health and safety ‘tone’
of the organisation and ensure that the organisation’s legal
responsibilities are met.
As such, their actions are noted by workers and their visible
leadership is essential in the development of the safety culture
of the organisation. Of course, leaders need to reinforce
personal safety, such as wearing PPE, but also need to discuss
and question the more complex issues such as resourcing and
the process operations. The actions taken at leadership level
establish the level of commitment to process safety which, in
turn, helps to achieve the desired positive health and safety

the layers of preventive and protective measures that prevent, culture. Part of being visible is personally leading initiatives,
detect and mitigate such undesirable events. challenging the organisation (asking difficult questions) and
actually being physically present (visiting sites). In short, they
For those board members still unsure as to the importance
need to be role models.
of managing process safety, the publication Corporate
Governance for Process Safety - Guidance for Senior Leaders in
High Hazard Industries3 contains the following statement:

“Safe operation and sustainable success in business cannot be

separated. Failure to manage process safety can never deliver
good performance in the long term, and the consequences
of getting control of major hazards wrong are extremely
costly... Major accidents may not just impact on your bottom
ELEMENT 4

line profitability - they could completely wipe it out. Major

incidents in recent years have shown that the consequences
for capital costs, income, insurance costs, investment
confidence and shareholder value can all be drastically
affected. So why take the risk? However, getting it right pays
large dividends.”
Process safety responsibilities need to be defined.
©Crown Copyright, Health and Safety Executive

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 3. The need to define process safety
responsibilities
It is not only directors who have a role to play in process safety.
Top management will delegate (even though they will retain
overall responsibility and accountability) to their subordinates.
So, other managers and workers will also have process
safety critical roles and responsibilities as part of their duties.
Obviously, such responsibilities should only be delegated to
those who are competent to carry them out (or where that
competence is actively being developed). These should be
clearly defined at all levels; from the board through to the
maintenance workers who look after the installation, everyone
has a role to play in process safety. This is especially so for
those with Process Safety Management (PSM) critical positions.
For example, the engineering manager may be responsible
for the management of change process, which ensures that
modifications to plant or process are carried out only after
consideration of the safety implications; the maintenance
manager may have accountability for the development
and implementation of the preventive maintenance and
breakdown strategies, while the engineers, electricians
and fitters may be responsible for contributing to the risk
assessments and following the permit-to-work process and
locking off equipment before work commences.
THOUGHT PROVOKER
How confident are you that you
understand your process safety
responsibilities? What about your colleagues and
senior managers?
451931_PSM_Element_1.indd 7
4. The reasons for holding to account
all individuals with PSM responsibility
ELEMENT 1
It is clear that if new plant is installed without due
consideration to safety, then the potential for injuries is high,
eg if everything is correct and an electrician simply takes
shortcuts and does not isolate the system before work, the
potential for injury is also high. Everyone with process safety
responsibilities has a role to play and therefore should be held
accountable for their actions, regardless of their organisational
level. In the context of an adequately resourced, competent
workforce, holding people accountable also encourages
engagement. However, it is very important for process safety
to look for root causes of incidents rather than blaming an
individual. Root cause analysis finds wider failings in the
ELEMENT 2
systems, management and leadership. Also, in the example
above, a ‘just’ culture would encourage the electrician to
report near misses and contribute to the development of
safer working systems, without fear that a single mistake will
lead to disciplinary action or even sacking. So, we might ask
ourselves how such a culture is created, the answer is simple;
senior managers play a pivotal role. Senior managers set the
standards for the design of plant, the operational standards
that are acceptable and conversely reinforce the fact that
corner cutting and taking shortcuts is totally unacceptable in
process safety. Effective senior managers dedicate resources
to safety rather than paying lip service to it, and ensure that
true root causes are identified after incidents. This theme is
ELEMENT 3
returned to under ‘Organisational Learning’ below.
In the previously referenced Corporate Governance for Process
Safety - Guidance for Senior Leaders in High Hazard Industries
publication, the following suggestions are made with regard
to organisational competence and responsibility. CEOs and
leaders assure their organisation’s competence to manage the
hazards of its operations; they:
yy understand which questions to ask their workers and know
which follow-up actions are necessary;
yy ensure there are competent management, engineering,
ELEMENT 4
and operational workers at all levels;
yy ensure continual development of process safety expertise
and learning from new regulation and guidance;
yy provide resources and time for expertise-based hazard
and risk analyses, effective training and comprehensive
scenario-planning for potential accidents.
Element 1 Process safety leadership „„ 7
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 1.2

Process safety leadership

yy defer to the expertise of personnel, and do not dismiss 6. Reasons for establishing process
expert opinions. They provide a process or system to ensure safety objectives and targets
company leaders get expert process safety input as a critical
ELEMENT 1

part of the decision making process for commercial projects
or activities;
yy ensure that the organisation monitors and reviews the
process safety competency of contractors and third parties;
yy are capable of openly communicating critical aspects of
process safety with all internal and external audiences.
There is an old adage that states “if you aren’t measuring, you
aren’t managing” and this is as true for the process industry
sector as it is for any other. The meaning of process safety
objectives and targets is that effective organisations, serious
about making safety improvements, will establish a clear set
of objectives (overarching process safety aims) and targets
(short term goals) that are cascaded to staff throughout the
organisation at all levels. Leading and lagging process safety

5. The provision of adequate resources
Process safety needs to be adequately resourced; ensuring
adequate resources are in place is the responsibility of the
ELEMENT 2
indicators (things that you would measure to indicate progress
towards your objectives and targets) should be established in
order to take the organisation towards its goal. We will discuss
these indicators in the context of a process safety management

leadership of the organisation. Again, returning to the PSLG system in Element 2.

leadership principles, we find the following: “Appropriate
There are sound reasons for establishing effective process
resources should be made available to ensure a high standard
safety objectives, targets and indicators. An organisation
of process safety management throughout the organisation
could adopt a ‘wait and see’ approach to safety management,
and staff with process safety responsibilities should have or
assuming that ‘no news is good news’. However, a lack of
develop an appropriate level of competence.” These resources
incidents is no guarantee of safety, it could be the result of
can be:
good old-fashioned luck. Effective process safety indicators
yy human - the right number of people with the right skills identify safety critical controls and actions, and monitor these
and experiences; to ensure that operations are running as intended, controls are
robust and the site is therefore under control.
yy financial - this may include capital expenditure and
operational budgets to allow the plant to operate safely; Once these safety indicators and targets have been
ELEMENT 3

established, the board should review progress on a

yy physical - such as equipment, buildings, offices, rest
regular basis (often quarterly) and, on an annual basis, the
facilities, etc.
performance against these targets should be published in
Under-resourcing process safety is a risky business. While order to celebrate success and highlight areas of opportunity.
it may be unreasonable to expect an unlimited budget For many organisations (such as those appearing on the
or unlimited pool of personnel to draw on, it is entirely London Stock Exchange), this will be included in the annual
reasonable to expect a high-risk process operator to take report to shareholders and therefore is publicly available.
its responsibilities seriously. The impacts of a process safety
incident can be catastrophic - in September 2001, an explosion ACTIVITY
in the AZF fertiliser factory in Toulouse, France resulted in
Identify three process safety indicators
29 deaths, 30 serious injuries and 2,500 other casualties.
that are used in your workplace to
Total compensation paid by the insurance group exceeded
monitor process safety. Write these down, as we will
1.5 billion Euros. As well as the financial implications of
ELEMENT 4

come back to them in Element 2.

such failures, there are huge moral expectations placed on
employers, which was clear after the Deepwater Horizon
explosion in 2012 that saw the chair of BP in the spotlight
for the organisation’s failings and huge public backlash.
There are also legal implications in many countries that place
accountability clearly at the feet of the leaders to ensure safety
(including process safety) is adequately managed.
Element 1 Process safety leadership
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 7. Commitment to continuous
improvement

ELEMENT 1
Leaders should not only actively and effectively monitor the
safety performance; they should also seek to continually
improve, eg by benchmarking against other organisations.

Ultimately, process safety, like the personal safety we

explored at the start of this element, is a never-ending story.
Organisations develop, plants change and the desire for
further safety improvements is therefore a continual
process, rather than being disheartening, this is enlightening
as it acknowledges that the best organisations strive
continually for the injury-free workplace or the incident-free
plant and acknowledge that it is achievable with the right level
of commitment.

ELEMENT 2
ELEMENT 3
ELEMENT 4

HSE inspectors discussing work carried out on a chemical plant.

©Crown Copyright, Health and Safety Executive

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